Critical thinking still today addresses the issues of the conservation and reuse of our architectural heritage from different viewpoints which are not compared, as if the recognition of historical, communicative and formal values and thinking on how it is used and on the inevitable changes needed to satisfy vital needs belong to totally different spheres of thought and work. More specifically, time is lost within that disciplinary area traditionally defined as history and criticism in advancing hypotheses to summarise the debate that has taken place in recent decades, with no acknowledgement of the radical change that has taken place, caused by new historical and aesthetic perspectives of the relative nature of all value judgements and of the extension of protection to unofficial building, which inevitably highlight political and economical aspects, which in the final analysis are ethical questions.
Keywords: Restoration; conservation; selection of architecturally important buildings